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Gina Rodriguez

Actress; Star of "Jane The Virgin"

Gina Rodriguez is a two-time consecutive Golden Globe nominee for 2015 and 2016, having won in 2015 for “Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Jane The Virgin (Also nominated for Best Comedy Series at the Golden Globes, and AFI and People’s Choice winner) for the CW/CBS Studios, Gina Rodriguez’s profile has been rising steadily since her breakout performance as the titular character in Filly Brown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012.

Named the “Next Big Thing” and one of the “Top 35 Latinos Under 35,” by The Hollywood Reporter, Gina is also an Imagen award winner for “Best Actress in a Feature Film” for her performance in Filly Brown. The LA Times has referred to her as “forthright and formidable, a festival ingénue who deserves to be discussed in the same breath as Elizabeth Olsen and Jennifer Lawrence.” Rodriguez is also the recipient of Cinemacon’s FEMALE STAR OF TOMORROW Award in 2016.

Gina starred opposite Mark Wahlberg in the co-lead role of Andrea Fleytas in the Lions Gate Films Deep Water Horizon from director Peter Berg and producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura. She also had a role in Paramount Pictures Annihilation from director Alex Garland (Ex Machina) starring with Natalie Portman. Scott Rudin is producing the adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, which follows a group of women who take on a dangerous mission where the laws of nature don’t apply.

Growing up in Chicago, Gina started performing at age seven with the salsa dance company Fantasia Juvenil. She went on to work with other companies including Los Soneros Del Swing, performing at several Salsa Congress' in Chicago,California, New York and Puerto Rico. At sixteen, Gina was one of thirteen teens to be accepted into Columbia University NY- Theatrical Collaboration taught by Richard Niles.

She wrote, directed and performed original work with twelve other kids from around the world. She attended NYU’s, Tisch School of the Arts where she had four years of intense theatre training at both the Atlantic Theatre Company and Experimental Theatre Wing, working with David Mamet and William H. Macy, and the brilliant guidance of Rosemary Quinn.'

As of 2014, Gina stars in the CW television series Jane the Virgin (2014), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe (Best Actress in a Television Series - Comedy).

Speech Topics

I Can and I Will

It is an inspiring talk about her upbringing in a troubled neighborhood being taught by her father to overcome and succeed in any situation.

Every night for 20 years, Gino Rodriguez (Gina’s father) knelt beside his three daughters’ beds and whispered an incantation. As rats the size of footballs skittered along the floor of the basement apartment on the South Side of Chicago, he repeated the same five words into each girl’s ear as she slept: “I can and I will.” The message was always the same, and the audience was always asleep. The girls occasionally woke up during their father’s nightly pep talks, rolled their eyes and then went back to sleep. But each morning, they did a series of jumping jacks, looked in the mirror and said, “Today is going to be a great day. I can and I will.”

And one by one, they proved their father right: they could and they did. Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon graduated from Harvard Business School and is now a partner at a private-equity firm. Rebecca Rodriguez is the medical director of one of the best family-health clinics in the country. And Gina Rodriguez won a Best Actress Golden Globe for her starring role on Jane the Virgin.

When Gina Rodriguez scored a Golden Globe nomination for her starring role in 'Jane the Virgin,' she gave her supporters a shout-out with a simple tweet: “My hustle is only as strong as my crew.” That crew is rolling deeper than ever for the actress. This year, in addition to stepping back into Jane Villanueva’s colorful dresses, she’s writing a book and sitting on the board of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. Inside the March issue of 'InStyle,' now available on newsstands and for digital download, Emily Greener, co-founder of I Am That Girl, chats with the 31-year-old about being a late bloomer, false realities, and what it's like being “a caramel baby from Chicago.”

It’s probably safe to say no one has had the amount of career growth Gina Rodriguez has over the last two years. After years of small roles in TV and indie films, including a stint on The Bold and the Beautiful, Rodriguez finally got her big break as the titular character Jane on The CW’s Jane the Virgin and she’s been on everyone’s “One to Watch” list ever since. The award-winning actress, whose show just got picked up for a third season and has three films coming out this year, opened up to Celebuzz about the road trip that changed her life, why she’ll never feel like she’s made it, and how to solve the diversity issue in Hollywood.